Forest Rescue
by Onodlo
Summary: There is trouble brewing in the Old Forest so Merry & Pippin go on a journey to save the Shire
1. Chapter 1

A/N: post-quest, The Sire

Disclaimer: These are Tolkien's characters from Tolkien's story, I'm just using them for my own entertainment.

  


"Don't blame me, I'm just a mushroom!" exclaims Pippin. Frodo and Sam sit there just staring at him blankly, scratching their heads.

"That joke made absolutely no sense," remarks Frodo.

"You have no sense of humor anymore," replies Pippin.

"Well, he has a point. That joke was a little, um... _odd_," Sam says, "Mushroom Mr. Frodo?"

"No thank you Sam, _I_ prefer this kind," Frodo responds picking up a different bowl of mushrooms. 

"What?!" yells Pippin, "This mushroom is much better" he exclaims taking the bowl from Sam and shoving a hand full of mushrooms in his mouth.

"They taste funny." responds Frodo. Pippin glares at Frodo, then turns to Sam and asks, "Sam, what kind of mushroom do you think is better, his favorite or mine?"

"Actually I don't like either, I prefer this kind." he says, picking up a third type of mushroom.

"What!!!" Frodo and Pippin blurt out at the same time. "That kind is disgusting!!!" yells Pippin.

"Yes, this kind is much better!" remarks Frodo, holding up his bowl of mushrooms. 

"ARE YOU CRA—WHOA!" Pippin exclaims, flailing wildly and falling back in his chair. "OW! *&*@#%#%!" he yells, hitting his head on the ground. "Ow, ow, ow..." he says as he attempts to get back up. 

At that moment Merry bursts through the door. "Ah! Merry please tell them which type of mushroom you think is the best" Pippin says.

"Oh, um... that one," Merry remarks, pointing to a _fourth_ bowl which contains a completely different type of mushroom, "but that doesn't matter now. The trees of the Old Forest have gone crazy! The Shire is under attack!"

"_WHAT_?!" Frodo, Sam, and Pippin yell together, their eyes wide.

"This better not be some sort of prank..." Sam remarks.

"I'm not joking, this is serious!" Merry exclaims, "The trees of the Old Forest are moving into Buckland! They're attacking everything in their path!"

"What are we going to do?" asks Frodo.

"I was thinking of going to talk to Tom Bombadil," Merry answers.

"Beggin' your pardon Mr. Merry, but what does that have to do with us?" asks Sam.

"I was hoping that some one would go with me," Merry replies.

"You can count on me!" Pippin says, "So, um...when are we going?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. We were having computer problems.

Thanks to Breon, specialmajick, noonespecial and jete for reviewing. I know hobbits don't /always/ eat mushrooms, I just needed something hobbity for them to argue about.

Chapter 2-Forest Rescue

"Here we are." Merry says.

"Are we going in or not?" Pippin asks.

"Yes, we're going in there." Merry responds.

As they walk into the forest they both grab the hilts of their swords. All around them they can hear the erie sounds of the trees, but the strangest thing was that that could be heard for a long way off in any direction. A little while into the forest, Merry suddenly yells,"OW!"

"What is it Merry?" Pippin asks.

"Something hit me!" Merry responds.

"OW!" Pippin yells, falling face first to the ground.

The trees start to get very noisy.

"Let's hurry," Merry whispers to Pippin, "GO!"

Merry and Pippin break into a run towards the center of the forest. They suddenly come into a clearing with a rundown house in the middle. The two are stunned at the sight.

"What happened here?" Pippin asks.

The house appears to be falling apart. There are a few trees scattered about. Some have their roots buried in the old building.

"What happened? Where's Tom Bombadil?" Merry asks.

The two hobbits can do nothing but stare at the shattered remains of Tom Bombadil's home. Merry walks towards the house and says, "Come on Pip, lets see if they're in there!". Pippin quickly follows Merry .

Inside the house is a scene of chaos. Chairs and tables are overturned, rotting and caving in on themselves. Dishes lie shattered on the floor. The roof appears ready to collapse at any moment. Roots poke through the roof, floor, and walls. There are areas that are completely sealed off because the passageway has collapsed. They look everywhere but find no sign of Tom Bombadil or Goldberry among the rubble.

Suddenly there is a horrible creaking noise as hundreds of roots poke through the roof, floor, and walls of the house as they attempt to wrap themselves around Merry and Pippin. The two run from the house to see innumerable numbers of trees coming into the clearing. They watch with horror as the last remains of the house are engulfed by the roots of the massive trees.

Merry and Pippin race blindly through the forest until they come back out and enter the Shire again.

"So much for the 'talk to Tom Bombadil' plan." Pippin remarks under his breath.

"But where did he go?" Merry wonders.


	3. Chapter 3

Forest Rescue - Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"What do we do now?" asks Pippin.

The four hobbits, Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo, are all sitting around a table in Bag End, discussing what to do next.

"I don't know," Merry sighs.

"Well we have to think of something or the Shire is doomed!" Frodo pointed out. The four hobbits stop talking as they try to think of a plan.

"Hey, why don't we go talk to the ents?" Pippin suggests, "they could come here and herd the trees back into the forest."

"There's only one problem, the ents already have their hands full taking care of Fangorn Forest," Merry replies. None of the hobbits notice but at the mentioning of the name 'Fangorn' the roots of the trees that grows out of Bag End quiver. "And what makes you think they'll be able to help us anyway?"

"What? Do you think Treebeard would ... WHAT THE-" Pippin yells as the roots of the tree over Bag End start wiggling like crazy! "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" he shouts.

Merry walks over to one of the wriggling roots and pokes it. "WHOA!" Merry yelps as the root pulls straight up through the roof! That root is soon followed by many others. The roof begins to creak and crack as the roots continue to 'up root' themselves.

"Ow!" Pippin cries when a piece of the roof lands on his head.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Sam orders.

Everyone runs out of Bag End. Frodo gasps as he turns around and sees the tree over Bag End pulling itself out of the ground!

"That tree is pulling itself out of the ground!" Frodo exclaims.

The tree begins to walk down from the roof of Bag End.

"Good tree... nice tree. No. No! NO! BAD TREE! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!" Frodo screams as the tree walks down onto the road and picks him up. "HELP!" he yells.

"I am not a TREE! I am an ENTWIFE!" she replies.

"An entwife?!" the four hobbits exclaim together.

(Later)

The four hobbits are talking and Fimbrethil, the entwife, is walking around talking to every plant she sees.

"I can't believe it, we actually found an entwife!" Pippin said with delight, "a real, live, entwife!"

"Her name sounds familiar," Merry says, "Fimbrethil, where have I heard that name before?"

"Fimbrethil? That's the elvish word for slim-birch. Her name means slim-birch!" Frodo blurts out.

"Yes, it does," Fimbrethil replies, "you may call me Slim-birch if you wish. I am also called Wandlimb."

"Now I remember, Treebeard was talking about her, remember Pippin?" Merry says excitedly.

"Oh yeah, now I remember." Pippin replies

"Treebeard?" Slim-birch says, "You know Treebeard?"

"Yes, why?" Pippin asks.

"Where is he? I MUST speak to him!" she says as she starts walking around madly.

"He's not here, he's in Fangorn Forest," Pippin replies.

"Then I must go there!" she says as she starts to walk away.

"Wait! Can we come too? We also need to talk to Treebeard about something important," Pippin asks.

"It is no burden to me, you may come if you wish," she answers.

As they start off Pippin yells out, "Wait for us! Slow down!"

"Maybe it would be faster if you ride in my branches," she says.

"If you don't mind," Merry and Pippin reply.

She picks them up and puts them in her branches.

"Now we go off to Fangorn Forest!" she says. When Merry and Pippin are safely in her branches, they head off, out of the Shire.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for your reviews, and yes, it was the trees attacking Merry and Pippin.


	4. Chapter 4

Forest Rescue Chapter 4

Disclaimer : I own nothing

"Don't blame me, I'm just a mushroom!" Pippin said, telling his joke to Slim-birch and Merry.

"That didn't make any sense," Merry remarks.

"Indeed, why would a mushroom be speaking in then common tongue?"

"It's a joke. It's not supposed to make sense, it's supposed to be funny," Pippin groans.

"But why is a mushroom speaking in the common tongue?"

"It's a joke, and in a joke anything can be speaking any language," Pippin answers.

"Why?"

"Ugh! I don't know WHY, that's just how it is!" Pippin says, starting to get irked.

"I would think a joke should make sense."

"AHH!" Pippin screams in frustration, failing to get his point across to her.

"So, how did you end up in the Shire?" Merry asks.

"The Shire?"

"The place where we live," Merry responds.

"When I arrived it was nothing more than a vast expanse of hill covered terrain."

"Oh my, that must have been a very long time ago," says Pippin in awe.

"I was half asleep at the time, and for a while I dreamed that little creatures were clambering about in my branches, but I was to exhausted to bother trying to get them out."

"LOOK OUT!"

"KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND ON THE ROAD!"

"WATCH OUT FOR THE- - -!"

"AHH!"

Splash

"river."

"GREAT! Just PERFECT! Now I'm soaking wet!"

"River? What river?"

"The one you just walked through."

"Sorry."

"UHH!"

"Which way do we go now?"

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET TO FANGORN FOREST?!" both hobbits say in shock.

"I forgot. It has been so long since I last went to Fangorn Forest."

"UGH!" Pippin groans.

"We should head south along the road," Merry says, "he might still be at Isengard."

"Why would Treebeard be at Isengard?"

"We'll tell you on the way there," Pippin says, "now can we please GO!"

&&&&&

"Go!"

"Hurry up, you lousy insect!"

"I'm going to win!" Pippin declares triumphantly.

SQUISH!

"Hey, you cheated! You squished my ant! That's not very nice Merry, what did that ant ever do to you?" Pippin complains.

"Ugh! It's just an ant!" Merry responds.

"Just an ant! It was my ant and it would have won if you hadn't squished it!" Pippin whines.

"ARGH!"

&&&&&

"I'm hungry," Pippin moans.

"You just ate."

"We haven't eaten for HOURS," Pippin complains.

"Oh, quit your obsessive whining, you're making ME hungry," Merry grumbles.

"But if I don't eat soon I'm going to wither away!" Pippin whines, and then he pretends dramatically to faint.

They agree to stop for a quick snack. That quick snack quickly turns into a long meal.

After they finish eating, they start traveling again. Slim-birch started humming and then singing. Her voice sounds like the wind whispering through the grassy fields of the Shire on a warm summer day.

Maybe it was the sound of her voice, or maybe it was the their full bellies, it could have been the warm weather, or something completely different, but the two hobbits were quickly lulled to sleep in her branches.


End file.
